Inquisition, Part One
Tyrants Issue 9, "Inquisition, Part One." Front cover- Rook stands before the reader, dressed in a black pin-striped suit, his black mask over his face, where the facial features are entirely invisible, a white chess rook stitched over where the face should be on the mask. One of his huge, slightly hairy hands reaches for the hilt of a large sword slung across his back and in the one hand he has a pistol, held down to the floor. Narration- "2008. Now." The comic opens to a completely white cuboid chamber, where there is a man in prison overalls, strapped into what looks like something akin to an electric chair, minus the obvious parts that involve the actual electrocution. The man has black hair which reaches down to his shoulders, and mostly obscures his face as well, though there is a very determined snarl visible beneath the hair. The man has huge metallic cuffs around his wrists, separate to the chairs own restraints, which have several flashing lights along them. The man's eyes cannot be seen as there is a bandage across them, bloodied. There are several white clad doctors around him, and Italian police as well. "Inquisitor, do you have any final words before your powers are permanently taken away?"* Translated from Italian. "Oh yes, I see how this is... your so called ''heroes ''come, one take out one eye, and the other, in vengeance for her fellows deserved death, removes the other, and now, you intend to add insult to injury?"*For these events, please see Planet Titan (second series) issue 2. "My powers compensated for my blindness until you placed these cuffs on me, and now you plan to put this chemical into my body, and have me permanently crippled, not just once, but twice. Such is the work of the great vaunted Global Superhuman Peackeeping Directive." He spits on the policeman that asks for the last words. "Be glad you have these cuffs, or I already would had you tie and dismember your fellows here, and then throw yourself in front of a bulldozer." A doctor then fastens a gag around Inquisitor's mouth. He tries to resist, but can barely move. "The prosecuted's last words before Nullification have been heard. Administer the drug." A needle is put into Inquistitor's left arm. Narration- "Ten minutes later." "All right, remove the power-restraining cuffs, and attach the handcuffs." One of the officers does as told. Inquisitor's blind-folded eyes seem to look intently at the high ranking officer as the handcuffs are placed on him. The comic then cuts to Inquisitor being led by the lead officer, and another, out of the building, to a police car. Inquisitor turns to the lead officer. "I lied in there. I wouldn't really have you dismember anyone. I don't have mind control." "And now you don't have anything else either. Get in the car." "No." The police officer collapses. His eyes looks very much dead, blood gushing from his nose and ears. "Be glad I gave you a quick death. Planet Titan will not be so lucky." The other officer reaches for his baton, as Inquisitor turns round and 'gazes' at him. The man freezes. "You can live. You are merely an orderly not worth my trouble." Inquisitor then looks around, and then awkwardly down at his handcuffs. "Its clear you didn't think this through", says a voice from off-panel. (It is still bracketted in the comic, indicating that the words are still spoken in Italian.) Rook steps out a black car, no weapons visible. "Fortunately, you've made my bid to free you from arrest that much easier. Not that the officers would have been difficult to deal with." Rook walks towards Inquisitor. "And you are?" Inquisitor looks suspicious, despite Rook's admittance of wishing to free him. "Rook." He reaches down onto the central chain of the cuffs with one giant hand and squeezes, snapping it on half, then easily tears the cuffs off. He then gestures towards the car. "In. Quickly." Inquisitor does as ordered, as the car quickly escapes as other officers run out of the building, too late. Rook gets into the back of the car with Inquisitor as the car drives off. The driver is not visible. "I do believe this is the first prisoner escape involving a chauffeur", says Inquisitor. "It is difficult to relinquish certain habits" the large masked man responds. "Anyway. It is clear that I have freed you as I require some aid from you." "That would be the tradition. How may I serve?" Inquisitor gives a slightly mocking smile. "Firstly some information, which I believe is basic enough to be exchanged in return for your freedom." "Go on." "Your attack on Naples. four years ago.. the destruction your little group caused. I did some digging, and found that your most recent pyro-kinetic accomplice, Lady Nero, was still in prison, and not affiliated with you at the time." "It was not our attack, though we were seeking the man that caused it. Otherwise you are correct, I was not familiar with Nero at the time. As for the man we sought... if you are seeking him out, that would not be wise." Rook leans back, tapping an arm-rest. "That is not you to worry about. If the man is dangerous, the worst I can suffer is death." "You say that as if that is not the worse fate a man can suffer." "Oh it, certainly is, I will agree. Whether it is sudden or prolonged, death is a horrific thing to experience. However, though I hate it, it is not an end for me. So the worst that came happen to me is something I have already experienced a hundred times, give or take. I lose count." "If you are so powerful, then why have I not heard of you, Mister Rook?" "Because that is generally my intention. When you have lived as long as I, you don't want so called heroes hounding your every step. But we digress. How would I find this man you speak of?" "I do not know. He named himself Vesuvius, after the volcano. I found this out not long before dropped a cavern upon myself and my allies. Killed Da Vinci immediately. I do not know what happened to him after that, but he was being harassed by Planet Titan." Inquisitor scowls as he says the name. "I would assume they either dealt with him, or he fled. He moved through the very ground like a fish swims through water. Either way, those Planet Titan scum are the ones you should be speaking to." Rook nods slowly, rubbing his hands together. "Unfortunately, though I do have a solid information network, getting such direct knowledge that Planet Titan would possess would be difficult..." "So you want me to take the information from a mind or two." "... If you still possess your telepathy, which you clearly still do." The Inquisitor shrugs. "Why have such a gift and not use it?" "Interesting that the Nullifier did not take this gift." The Inquisitor shrugs. "I cannot illuminate on that anymore than you." "Well, either way, you have a gift to be made use of." "And it would be a pleasure to use it upon the scum that took my eyes." Inquisitor leans forward, fists clenched against his trousers, pulling them tight with his rage. Rook actually looks surprised to learn about the loss of Inquisitor's eyes and nods as he continues. "But, I do not possess the power or the stupidity to take on this team without considerable allies and resources." "Those I can provide, however, an attack on Planet Titan, especially for some simple information, would be foolish, regardless. However, Planet Titan does have something of a significant membership turnover. I would instead have you acquire the information from one of its ex-team members." "I assume that their leader is still the teleporter?" "It seems that she did not leave the team in guilt after breaking GSPD rules to remove your eyes, no." "It was just the second she took. The other, I killed. I was hoping to complete restoring this balance." "An eye for an eye?" Rook raises an eyebrow. "I was more thinking a life for an eye. Perhaps not so balanced but..." Inquisitor opens his hands out plainly "She broke the rules of engagement first." "Vengeance, is, alas, a course you shall have to pursue upon your own time. But, you will still have the spiritual justification of having the oppurtunity to visit some payback upon one of Shamrock's still steadfast friends. Two, in fact. The target lives with another ex-Planet Titan member, though he has no powers to speak of." "So, you need me to extract information from the mind of one, with only two to oppose me, one without powers? Sounds easy enough." "The target, one Leonie Adler, formerly known as Horde, also has her own small team which help her with monster hunting, but most are not a legitimate combat threat, and even the ones that are, a minor one. But, to account for the neverending surprises that always come in such situations, I will be attaching you a team of super-powered operatives to aid you. A simple operation, storm the household, take the information, defeating any resistance as you go, and then leave, ensuring you are not followed, return to a location I will give you with the information. Simple enough, as much as these things tend to me. No plan survives contact, of course." Inquisitor smiles and nods, not looking directly at Rook as he thinks. "Horde. A shape-shifter ''and ''duplicator. Not an easy foe to deal with, even singularly. And who lives with her?" "Samuel Slater, formerly Silhoutte." "I have no experience with this one." "His time on the team was almost microscopic, so one assumes, not even a great threat with powers. However, he has, in the past four years since leaving the team, produced some books on mystical studies, which are somewhat more accurate than the usual commercial fare, and his powers did have a mystic origin, so, though he may be a non-powered human, this does not discount the ability to wield magical knowledge and the effects that come with that." Inquisitor strokes the small beard upon his chin in thought. "And one assumes her team, being monster hunters, are used to coordinating and no slouches either." He leans back. "But, a far less difficult, if less satisfying task, than taking Planet Titan." "And, I will pay handsomely for the mission, and, you could always put this money forward towards employing the mercenaries I will be attaching to you, should you find them competent enough to take your own vendetta forward." "I see you as the only one who loses out on this deal, Rook. What use to you would be the location of a man who would simply destroy you for his own satisfaction?" "Such a man would be useful in providing distractions whilst I continue my own interests." "Ah, now these are matters I understand. Very well. I will perhaps accept your little mission... but first, I would know my team." "Very good. I hope you are capable of tolerating Americans." The comic cuts to a double page spread showing a large penhouse suite. In the background, Rook and Inquisitor are entering the room, and in the foreground, are a group of super-villains. "And this is the team you'll be working with", says Rook. Sat in a large red arm-chair, zipping from a cocktail glass, is a man in a white spandex suit which only leaves his mouth visible, with yellow lenses across the eyes, and a large yellow V shape running up from his belt and up to his shoulders, the belt also yellow. He has his feet up on the coffee table. Narration- "Viral- thief who possesses the power to turn into electrical energy and possess machinery." Taking up two seats on a sofa a few feet from Viral is a particularly wide shoulder, bullish Luchador, with yellow mask and vest. He appears to be reading a book, holding it close to his face. Narration- "Grapplor- Luchador for hire." Languishing next to Grapplor with a remote control, looking rather bored as she watches the television, is an attractive woman with her ginger hair tied up into a pony tail which goes down her back. She wears a red lyrca bodysuit. Narration- "Skyscraper- not as small and breakable as she appears. Absorbs heat from the air to either increase her size or emit heat beams." Stood by the back wall at the mini-bar is a tall, thin man dressed in a long brown overcoat, with a large white cowboy hat. His face is particularly ugly and scarred. Narration- "Texas Holdem- time travelling, time warping gun-toting mercenary." Looking out of a window at the far right of the room is a man dressed in a brown lycra bodysuit, with a bird's beak above and below his face, showing his face to the reader (visible from the side) with a large pair of furled feathered wings. Narration- "American Kestrel- renowned fascist American criminal, with morphic wings." Across the back wall of the suite is a glass case containing swords of many kinds and eras. On the next page, Rook lets Inquisitor walk into the room first. "Lady and gentleman, this will be the team's attached psychic and leader for this mission, The Inquisitor." "Ha! He's blind too!" says Viral spitting some drink out. "Ya really got tha perfect replacement for The Man, didn't ya, big man?" Inquisitor looks to Rook "Replacement?" "The Man is another American villain, also renowned for coping with blindness through psychic powers, though I believe he was born that way." Inquisitor looks angry. "So you already had this mission planned, and you simply need a replacement for one of them?" Rook raises his hands in placation. "The Man is not the kind of criminal you hire. He usually does the hiring. I never planned him for this team in the first place. You fulfil a vital replacement." Inquisitor takes a spare single chair. "Very well. So, you believe this team is sufficient for the mission ahead?" "Certainly. You will be able to obtain the information, with Skyscraper and Grapplor acting as your neccesary muscle, to defeat whatever fight Horde and her partner and lackeys might put up. Viral will be able to possess the machinery within the building to turn off the communications and to take over their helicopter should they mean to escape. Holdem can use non-lethal ammo to keep things under control from a distance should anyone try to flee the house, and he can use his temporal powers to freeze anyone if neccesary, with American Kestrel as the eyes above to warn of any impending police or heroes and also to chase any other aerial or ground based escapes." "You've thought this through." "Also gonna be a chance to give that god-damned traitor a good punching", says Skyscraper, punching a fist into a palm. Inquisitor looks from her to Rook, and Rook takes the lead. "Silhouette, Horde's partner, is one of a few from our line of work who turned to the other side. And our fellows here have all had some form of run-in or former alliancew with him in the past, and are wishing to get even. His short tenure on Planet Titan also involved being used as something of a weapon... I assume you heard what happened to America four years ago? Not his fault, of course, but sufficient... encouragement for these fellows." "And yet you want no blood on your hands." "I have come to learn that a sufficient beating that someone can remember can satisfy vengeance equally, if not better, than killing." "As long as they can guarantee they will not be distracted from this Horde and obtaining the information she holds." "We will help. No worry", says Grapplor. "Gratifying, I am sure", replies Inquisitor. "Very well. Since you freed me, I suppose I am indebted. And who am I to stand in the way of vengeance... I have my own to visit against Planet Titan when this is done." He touches the bandage across his eyes briefly. "Oh, havin' a rematch with that teleporter girly while I ain't bein' possesed by some shadowy thing would be a pleasure", says Skyscraper. Inquisitor looks to Rook. "Then this venture is starting to look more promising by the moment." "Good. Then perhaps. A succesful mission means I might also be able to get you in contact with other... interested parties, for your private venture." "Excellent. May I ask one more final boon?" Rook nods. "If I am to be the Inquisitor again, then I require armour and sword... it is part of the look, you know." Rook places a hand on Inquisitor's left shoulder. "Don't worry. I have plenty going spare." The comic zooms in on the weird and wonderful sword collection. End of issue.